Window shade



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WINDOW SEADE.

Application filed April 1'7, 1922. Serial No. 553,604.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL E. SNYDER, a citizen of the United States, residing in the borough of Brooklyn, county of Kings, city and State of New York, have invented an Improvement in Window Shades, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to window shades and has for an object to provide an improved arrangement whereby a shade of adjustable length may be supported at any desired height relative to the top or bottom of the window opening.

The invention provides means for supporting a spring roller and its attached shade in inverted position, the shade being supported by its free end in such manner that its elevation may be adjusted to cover any desired portion of the window opening.

The nature and objects of the invention will be better understood fron'i a consideration of an illustrative embodiment of the in vention. For the purposes of such description reference will. be had tofthe accompanying drawing forming a part hereof, wherein Figure 1 is a front elevation of a window shade arrangement constructed in accord ance with and embodying the principles of the invention and shown as applied to a window opening;

Figure 2 is a detail view of the side elevation showing the depending frame 5, and

Figures 3 and 4 are sectional views of the spring rollers used with the invention, showing their associated pawls.

In the arrangement shown for the purpose of illustrating the invention, a shade 1 with its spring roller 2 is shown as supported in inverted positiomthe supportingmeansbeing attached for convenience to the filler stick 3. In this arrangement the roller, which may be of usual construction and provided with pawls 2, serves as a weight to maintain the shade taut and to prevent its being easily blown from position by drafts of air. Suitable means is provided for maintaining the roller in adjusted position and preventing the accidental unrolling of the shade. The means shown comprises a frame 5 which engages and is supported by the two trunnions of the shade, the non-rotatable trunnion 6 being held against rotation by fitting a correspondingly shaped slot 7 in the frame. The frame 5 and its connected parts are preferably made of suffioient weight and the weight is so distributed that the same will hang vertically beneath the roller. As shown, the frame is olfset from the line of the trunnions so that it hangs in line with the shade which supports it, as shown in Figure 2. The frame is preferably of a width equal to the width ofthe shade 1, the cars which engage the roller trunnions being offset outwardly as shown. If the weight of the frame is insufiicient a weight 10 may be secured to or form apart of the frame. This weight and the frame are preferably covered with suitable material 11 so that the frame with its covering constitutes a shade section of fixed length and of awidth equal to the width of the shade 1.

The means for supporting the shade, spring roller, and the weighted frame, is preferably arranged to sustain the shade at any desired elevation in the window open- T ing. In this way the shade may be arranged to cover any desired portion of the window opening. A cord 25 is secured to and depends from the filler stick 3, and a cord 26 is secured to and depends from the weight 11. The spring 22 so formed as to be trifle stronger in tension than the spring in the roller 2, and it will be obvious that should it be desired to raise the shade 1 without changing the position of the spring roller 2 it is only necessary to hold the cord 26 and then pull downwardly on the cord 25 whereupon the pawls in the spring roller 15 are released, as is usual in spring rollers, whereupon the shade 1 would be raised (and 1111- r rolled from the spring roller 2), to the desired elevation, through the medium of the cords 14, which latter would be wound on the cones 21 in an obvious manner. As shown, suitable tension members, as cords, 14, 14 are secured to the opposite ends of the filler stick 3 and extend over and are attached to a spring roller 15 mounted in the window frame 16 at the top thereof. This spring roller is, in general, of usual construction, having at one end a rotatable trunnion mounted in a suitable bracket 17 and at its opposite end a non-rotatable trunnion 18 non-rotatably mounted in a suitable bracket 19, the roller being provided with the usual gravity pawls 15' to hold it in adjusted position. The supporting cords 14, 14 are preferably arranged to wind onto conical sections 20 of the spring roller 15, the arrangement being such that when the shade is raised to the top of the window and the spring of the spring roller 15 is in relatively unwound condition the cords engage the roller at the smaller portion of the cones and therefore nearer the axis of the roller, whereas when the shade is down near the bottom of the window, in which condition the spring of the roller 15 is in relatively wound-up condition and therefore under greater tension, the cords engage near the larger end of the cones, having a greater leverage. By this arrangement the increased tension of the spring of the roller when the shade is in its lowermost position is substantially equalized by the greater leverage of the pull of the cord on the outer diameter of the cones.

As shown, the cone sections are made sepa rate and grooves 21 are formed to guide the cords 14, 14 in winding and unwinding. In order that the cones may be of as small diameter as possible at the smaller end, the spring 22 of the roller is secured to the usual center rod 23 at a point spaced from the end of the roller, and the adjacent cone section 20.is made to substantially fit this center rod.

Various possible embodiments may be made of the invention and various changes in the embodiment described may be made, all within the scope of the subjoined claims,

I claim as my invention:

1. The combination with a shade of a spring roller having conical sections, tension members each connected at one end to the roller and wound on the conical sections and connected at their other ends to the shade, whereby as the tension members are unwound andthe spring of the spring roller is wound tighter the tension members act on a larger diameter of the roller.

2. The combination with a spring roller and its attached shade, of a second spring April, 1922.

ee s as roller having conical sections, tension members each connected at one end to the first mentioned roller and at their other ends to said second mentioned roller and adapted to be wound on the conical sections whereby 3. The combination with, a shade and its roller of adpistable means for supporting the same in desired position, comprising a spring roller having conical grooved sections and cords arranged to wind in said grooved sections, whereby as said cords are unwound the spring of said roller is wound tighter and said cords act on a larger diameter of the roller.

4-. The combination with a shade and its spring roller, a second spring roller rotatably mounted at the top of a window opening or the like, and provided with conical end sections, cords secured to said shade and to said conical sections and so arranged that upon rotation of said second spring roller and consequent increased tension of the spring thereof said cords act on a larger diameter of said conical sections whereby tension of the spring of the roller is equalized by the cords, a frame engaging the trunnions of said first mentioned spring roller and depending therefrom and ar ranged to prevent rotation of said roller.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this. specification this 10th day of SAMUEL E. SNYDER. 

